A Nice Little Harvest

A great little harvest from the allotment today, and it looks like a sea of tomatoes are on their way as long as the blight holds off.

Another crop of climbing French beans harvested and the larger ones left on the climbing frame greenhouse to go more to seed to supply me with Lazy Housewife seeds for next year.

Harvested the last cucumber and another harvest of red and All Gold Raspberries taken home today.

Onions from the draying rack taken home today as well.

I also did some digging and weeding of the beds in the climbing frame greenhouse, and also removed the Lazy Housewife and cucumber that were climbing the Climbing Frame Greenhouse and they went into the Hotbin to feed my worms.

The red and orange tomatoes that are only just turning as these photos were taken after harvesting the ripe ones. 

Lots of tomatoes to come

Merrygold F1, Blight Resistant Orange Tomato

Tomato 'Crimson Crush' - The fruits are particularly large for a salad variety, with an exceptional flavour.

Tomato 'Crimson Plum' - Good crops of ‘Roma’ style plum tomatoes throughout the summer.

Tomato 'Crimson Cherry' - The small cherry fruits have glossy, red skins and a sweet, juicy flesh with a superb flavour.

Tomato 'Crimson Blush' - Large beefsteak fruits with the sweet flavour of a cherry Tomato!

Tomato 'Crimson Cocktail' - small cocktail-sized fruit with an excellent flavour that has a good balance of sweetness and acidity.

There were a couple of nearly ripe tomatoes in the foliage, but my tin foil tray was full for the day

Onion on the drying rack, 12 taken home for my daughter Emma.

Organdi Dwarf French Beans germination, all from the same packet I was hoping to see more than this, by now.

Germination of the Red Frills mustard looking good.

Disappointing germination of the Rocket and Artic King lettuce

Disappointing germination of the Spinach

Slower Day Today

After over exerting myself yesterday, I slept in this morning and was not feeling 100% plus it was a clear blue sky and not cloudy, so I did a clean up of my broom cupboard office this morning, and drilled the holes in the plastic cups as the step drill bit had arrived.

I went to the allotment later in the afternoon, when it was a little more overcast. .

Watered all the seed trays in the potting shed.

Watered the raised beds on the allotment

Watered the Blueberries with rain water, I think I killed last years Blueberries by using tap water.

Harvested Red and All Gold Raspberries

Harvested Pixie grapes

Crimson & Blight Resistant Tomatoes harvested

Vailan Winter Gem Lettuce already showing in 8 of the 10 cells

Some Turnips germinating but not much sign of the guardsman onions yet

Not many of the Spinach germination yet

Pixie Grapevine

Red & All Gold Raspberries and Pixie Grapes Harvested

A Productive Day On The Allotment

A productive day on the allotment, Sowing Snowman Carrots and Lollo Rossa Lettuce in Square Foot Garden bed 1, Sowing in the potting shed, cutting back the bindweed that has taken over the beds and paths on plot 1A.

Two drills formed watered and sprinkled with Snowman Carrots

Snowman Carrots in the drills, the soil looked dark because it had been watered which made spotting the white carrot seeds easier to see.

Lollo Rossa Lettuce in the middle of the bed and two rows of Snowman Carrots, covered over with potting mix compost, but drills marked with labels. Crushed Egg shells to be added at a future visit.

Mustard Red Frills from Seeds To Suit, potting up mix in the bottom of the modules and seed sowing compost in the top and sprinkled over the seeds, then watered. 20C outside today and 35C in the Potting shed.

View from the shed on plot 1 up towards the shed on plot 1A on the left a photo before trimming the bindweed back to the bed edging, that has started to cover the paving slabs again. ON the right once the trimming was completed, but the bindweed needs to dry and be collected and disposed off. 

I will let the cut weeds on the path die under the sun and then used my Ryobi blower to gather then and pick them up for disposal

View up towards the plot 1A Greenhouse and Shed. The grapes are completely covered with bind weed and I have no idea what is happening under there, but I will do in a couple of days.

One could not see the framing of the beds and the paths were overgrown with bindweed and a trip hazard.

View from the path between plots 1A & 2A on the left before trimming the bindweed back to each bed and on the right after trimming the paths. 

Self seeded trees on the main path between plot 1A and 2A need to be removed at a future visit 

Wally cut down my plum tree that was overhanging the path, as he needed to do something that didn't involve being down on his hands and knees, and we both took a wheelbarrow load of branches up to the unusable plot 9 so we can burn it the week before or after the 5th November, the only time of the year an open bonfire is allowed on the allotments in the borough.

Site Inspections & Tomato Harvest

Jane the allotment administrator from idverde came down to do the plot inspections this morning and two plot holders will be getting 28 day no-cults letter. She wanted to give one a termination notice, and two further no cults, but I managed to change her mind and reduce the termination to a no- cult and that one no-cult was very borderline, and I suspect there may some underlying reason that the normally frequent visitor to the plot, has not been around so much, and that I will contact them to see if they are OK.

500 ml pop bottles drilled with holes and the bottoms removed and installed upside down into the Square Foot Garden Bed 2 to assist watering at depth. 

Crimson Range and Blight Resistant range of tomatoes harvested.

Digby Elvis & Sowing Seeds

Mr Cool Guy "Digby Elvis" came to visit grandad for lunch today, so grandad had to visit the allotment between 3:00 and 5:30pm and spent his time sowing a tray of Organdi Dwarf French Bean and various salads in the potting shed.

I'm going to have to measure out 10 Litres of water in the 10L buckets I bought because when I empty a 10L sack of compost it does not fill the 10L bucket up, and I feel I'm being screwed/ short changed by the compost company and now I need to check, to see if I am.

Vallan Winter Gem Lettuce, Rocket, Artic King Lettuce & Lollo Rossa in modules

A tray of Organdi Dwarf French Beans in loo rolls, the gap between is to let air flow so the loo rolls don't go mouldy. This is an attempt to get another harvest in as they will crop until the end of October frost permitting.

The Organdi Dwarf French Beans in loo rolls and the tray of mixed salads in modules after sowing, a sprinkle of light compost and watering in on the potting shed bench.

Topping Up Square Foot Garden Bed 1

 

Before my usual rubbish goes back in the boot, I took the opportunity of having an empty boot to take the square flower buckets of compost that were used for last years tomatoes grown in the back garden down to the allotment. Each year I have been taking half down to the allotment and topping up with new compost.

I think its time to empty all the home buckets and recharge them next year. I didn't grow tomatoes at home because I have a fence to renew in the back garden.

Kelly and I have finally cut back the neighbours 12 ft hedge down to the level of the fence, as it has always historically been, until the owner lost his property to a managing agent who did sweet FA in terms of building or ground maintenance.

Photo above are 12 number 30 Litre Square Flower Buckets full of spent compost for topping up Square Foot Garden Bed 1 in the back of the car that for the 4th day that has been backed up the plot 1 entrance to unload useful items on the allotment.

Square Foot Garden (SFG) Bed 1 weeded yesterday and the compaction can be clearly seen as the soil was originally level with the top of the frame.

9 buckets worth tipped out on the top of the bed and looks like a wonky bar of chocolate

One by one I broke the cubes down with my Kent & Stowe long handled trowel

The blackish block in the corner had kelp sea weed fertiliser in it.

Until finally all the blocks were broken down and spread over the whole bed.

I then went around and chopped up the lumps more with a hand trowel.

Square Foot Garden Bed 2 watered

Square Foot Garden Bed 1 watered

Square Foot Garden beds 1 & 2 watered and recovered with debris netting. 

Seeds and labels ready for a sowing session on my next visit to the plot. 

Other beds were watered and a natter and coffee with Wally was had, during what was a nice overcast 18C-20C morning on Mill Green Allotment.

More Freecycle Paving Slabs

I went to collect the second load of paving slabs this afternoon once I had caught up with the breakfast and medication I had missed because of the PET/CT Scan this morning at St Georges Hospital.

I backed the car up to the plot 1 entrance and popped open the boot. The French Climbing Bean plants have turned yellow since the beans were harvested.

Then removed the five thinner 450 x 450mm slabs and washed them off as I stacked them so they would not be as dusty to handle when they go to their final home. I had a rest and hydrated

With the lighter blocks gone I was left with the two just over half vintage thicker blocks and the eight half blocks to move. Again they were moved to what was the asparagus bed, and washed as they were stacked criss-crossed to aid future lifting and man handling.

After the trouble I had lifting the vintage 450x450mm 40-50mm thick concrete slabs out of the car and into the wheel barrow and then out of the wheel barrow and stacking yesterday, I was only interested in the more modern 20mm think 450mm x 450mm slabs and the thicker half slabs and slightly larger slabs.

This means I was gutted to leave the 41 remaining vintage slabs, but realistically I was bound to injure myself with the vintage slabs. I promised the guy I would remove them and I have a friend who is after slabs and has a fit and healthy husband with access to a small lorry and van who will clear them.

So this is the pile of slabs I have picked up in the last week, those full thick vintage slabs may well come under my angle grinder and be cut in half because I have not got the strength to handle then without doing myself a mischief.

Go back three months, before the steroids and I would not have had the strength in my hands and wrists let alone my hips and legs to lift these into the boot and from the boot into and out of the wheel barrow, and stack. That pile at the bottom of the photo nearly killed me yesterday.

So the slabs picked up this afternoon are the ones on the right side of the framed bed, in the photo above.

Ripe Crimson range and blight resistant tomatoes harvested and onions from the drying rack brought home.